Conservation Areas

[Dalooah]

What sort of things are affected by being in a conservation area? Is getting planning harder? What things would need prior approval that might not elsewhere? Is it council/area dependent?

Where we used to live you needed permission for just about anything that was visible. Windows, doors etc.
For example, only real wood window frames allowed and in certain styles (no UPVC, even the stuff that looks like wood) and only certain colours allowed too. Any changes to the look of the house, such as rendering, again only certain colours allowed- if at all.

Local shops had to abide by strict rules for colour of their signage and the outside of their shops.

We used to live in a conservation area (with a militant residents association) and it was a nightmare. Officially you had to get permission to repaint your side gate (visible from the front) the same colour! We had original sash wooden windows, they were all rotten and we couldn't get permission to replace the bays at the front. (It was fine to replace all the windows at the back though.)

In a conservation area myself.

I originally thought it was quite a "quaint" ideology. However the reality of it is that it's slightly annoying for a couple of reasons....

1. Little things like changes to a front garden wall, your windows etc all have to have planning permission. All of which you have to pay a lovely application cost. Stipulations in my area are windows have to be replaced like-for-like. Only timber sash windows not even PVC. Which was a cost difference of £2k!

1. I would respect all of the above IF it meant the general aesthetics of my road were consistent. But when you have an ugly 60's purpose built flat on the other side of the road (just outside of the conservation boundary line) it makes it all seem a bit pointless.

Some good things are trees are protected from being removed.

It is very much area (and specific conservation area itself) dependent. I’ve lived in two different CAs less than half a mile apart, and whilst most covenants were the same for both, there were minor differences in the article 4 directive itself.

The regulations for the conservation area should be publicly available online (council website, but maybe the CA itself has a residents’ assoc with own website). Most will have some kind of written guide talking about what features are important to the area.

Ours boils down to: can’t make any changes to front/side aspect, or roof, without PP. Need permission to landscape front garden, don’t automatically have the same extension rights as other houses.

You can still make changes though, just PP is required, and so you need to leave more time. You are unlikely to ever get PP for anything that ‘materially changes’ the look and feel of the neighbourhood. You may be able to reinstate missing features though.

In my experience it’s not a big deal, they’re usually lovely places to live, with nice houses and charm.

I’m surprised at PP saying about paying for PP - that’s not been my experience. I have had two separate sets of PP for two different pieces of work (both to the roof as it happens, different houses). I have never had to pay, but it has caused delays.

We had to pay for PP in ours too

Wow, must vary by different local authority then! Though in both cases I referenced, the change was literally only to do with something fairly ordinary that wouldn’t normally involve planning: one was re-roofing the house, the other was rebuilding/repointing some chimneys.

In both the houses we have lived in I have sought advice from the conservation officer; different people have occupied the role through the years, but all have been friendly and helpful. Usually I drop an email along the lines of: we need to do x replace work to the house, it appears that planning is not required, what do you think? In general, the council do not want tons of paperwork so some things can be agreed by email. It’s nowhere near as stringent as listing, but they will follow process for all big things.

I guess I can see why people don’t like them, there is an additional layer of administration to working on your house, but it’s not excessive, and this restriction is what ensures the character of the area is retained. I’m a big fan, generally; it means the area is unlikely to change in appearance over time, and that every change that is made is considered against the overall street scene.

It’s a good place to live if: you like character (old) properties, and some degree of uniformity (our old house was very uniform, our new house less so because the houses are all individual); you want to know that next door can’t randomly become a student house or a mega mansion; you care about conservation of older houses (note, not preservation, this is not listing, and you can do some modern things with modern materials).

It’s a bad place to live if: you want to make big changes to the front of the property; you don’t like admin in general; you want to rip everything out and completely modernise (whilst internal changes are not restricted, there will likely be plenty of original features that arguably should stay).

We were talking the other day about the location of our street and if it weren’t for the Article 4 Directive the houses would likely have been bulldozed for flats and new builds now because they have massive plots. Indeed a few streets over that happened in the 60s and 70s

They might seem a pain but they are the reason conservation areas are pretty. A shame that post war some monstrosities were built in bomb damage sites, but then individuals trashed their houses with unsympathetic alterations before CA status. PVC windows installed before CA status are a particular blight in conservation areas, ghastly.

My dad can't have a sky dish where he is

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor can’t? Or can’t have one where it can be seen? I know some houses where the sky dish is at the bottom of the garden/the back/somewhere it can’t be seen.

My own house has a ghastly one that must have gone in before the CA was awarded. Needs to come down!

Maybe isn't 'cant be seen?'

**it's

We needed planning permission to install new sashes and they were very difficult about it. We also need planning permission to even trim trees. We are meant to apply for permission to repaint the front.

It's good because the area does have some stunning buildings. But because it's such a pain to do anything, lots of people do nothing at all and the place looks run down.

Probably - most conservation areas were awarded mid-90s to mid 2000s, and so the scourge of the time was things like UPVC, satellite dishes. But e.g. more modern things like EV charge points may not be not restricted because they aren’t specifically called out.

Some areas are very strict, down to the colour paint than can be used on the exterior (from an ‘approved’ list), some are more relaxed. It all depends on what features are being conserved. Our front garden wall is an important feature, as are our windows and porch, but the overall colour of the house is not (within reason).

Gosh, I’m droning on now - we have clearly found my mastermind subject

@kirinm I’ve never tried to change windows, but others nearby have. I know that most conservation officers are really pragmatic people, but it’s a ‘hoop jumping’ exercise. They will always prefer restoring what is there over new. Example: we had a new roof, fine - but the agreed deal was that we would re-use the tiles. Tiles came off and were not reusable, so the request was to retain what we could and source reclaimed. Reclaimed not possible, so the request was old tiles on front, new on back. Seemed reasonable but not enough new for front, so request was to ‘mix in’ new ones on the front, but the modern heritage equivalent were different sizes, so in the end we had a whole new roof, and the conservation officer helped me choose the tile. I think when you understand what they are trying to do and what constraints are upon them it’s fairly easy to do what you need to do.

*not enough old tiles for the front

[quote Azilliondegrees]@kirinm I’ve never tried to change windows, but others nearby have. I know that most conservation officers are really pragmatic people, but it’s a ‘hoop jumping’ exercise. They will always prefer restoring what is there over new. Example: we had a new roof, fine - but the agreed deal was that we would re-use the tiles. Tiles came off and were not reusable, so the request was to retain what we could and source reclaimed. Reclaimed not possible, so the request was old tiles on front, new on back. Seemed reasonable but not enough new for front, so request was to ‘mix in’ new ones on the front, but the modern heritage equivalent were different sizes, so in the end we had a whole new roof, and the conservation officer helped me choose the tile. I think when you understand what they are trying to do and what constraints are upon them it’s fairly easy to do what you need to do.[/quote]
Here they needed us to have the exact same horns on the windows as everyone else on the street. It wasn't possible to repair 160 year old rotten sashes if we wanted to achieve anything like heat retention and reduction of noise. We actually spent a lot on our windows. Because the area became a conservation area in the 90s there are lots of houses with incredibly ugly aluminium 'sashes'.

I live in a pretty village CA where most of the houses including ours are Listed as well.

I am thankful no one can just chuck upvc windows into an ancient cottage!

What you can do round the back is great though, our council don't want you to add extensions that are made to look like the older part of the building, you must make extensions look new and modern, like glass and steel boxes. So behind everyone's chocolate box exterior are some stunning extensions!

When you get cold callers trying to flog you solar panels, conservatories etc you just have to say the words "conservation area" and they stop bothering you.

Yeah I can see that that would have been a really big headache. We have similar in that our windows would be ridiculous to replace (but are not sashes). The glass is thin though so it is freezing in winter.

We also have several neighbours with upvc and whilst I do feel jealous in some ways, most of those windows are now coming towards the park be of their lifespan and so renewal will be interesting. Technically they will be allowed like for like but I suspect the conservation officer will make them jump through hoops.

Lots of positives and negatives. Definitely something to think about! Thanks everyone!

Friend who lived in a conservation area, in order for her to get pp for a rear extension was told she had to paint the exterior of the house in the village colours.
She had no idea that the village had set colours. Particularly that when she found out the colours she tried to argue that no one had those colours anywhere. But they were insistent
So she paid for her house to be painted those colours, we were laughing about how awful it looked. Then once the building works had been signed off she got the painter back and repainted the house again.

Whilst it is a nice idea if you have a really nice looking area but I live in a conservation area and there are several uninhabited houses that are left with no maintenance as people have just moved on.

What azillion said. I love the look of our area, it's quite beautiful and the people involved in the conservation society - it's more or less run by a couple in their 70s - do try to be thoughtful and give measured responses to larger developments, and draw in other views... but I'm still £35,000 down on windows and that's less than half the entire building.

I’m a town planner by profession! There really is no one-size-fits-all answer for conservation areas. Many retain a certain amount of permitted development rights, and it’s only when the Council apply something called an ‘article 4 direction’ that the rules get really strict, like controlling alterations to windows and such. Or obviously if it’s a listed building, you need consent for any alteration or repair.

So anyway - if buying in a conservation area, always check what article 4 directions (if any) the house might be subjected to. This info should be available on the website, if not phone the council’s planning department.

In terms of fees - there’s always a planning application fee. The only time it’s free is if you are applying solely for listed building consent.

Hope that helps!